# consult
## English
### Etymology 1

From Middle French consulte. In sense “council”, it represents Latin cōnsultum, Italian consulto; and it may have been often taken as a direct formation from the verb.

#### Pronunciation

* enPR: kŏn'sŭlt or kənsŭlt'
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈkɒnsʌlt/, /kənˈsʌlt/
* (US) IPA: /ˈkɑnsʌlt/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌlt

#### Noun

consult (countable and uncountable, plural consults)
* (now US, countable) A visit to consult somebody, such as a doctor; a consultation.
    Synonym: consultation
* (obsolete) The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation.
** 1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Iewes”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 4th book, page 201:For firſt upon conſult of reaſon, there will bee found no eaſie aſſurance for to faſten a materiall or temperamentall propriety upon any nation; […]
* (obsolete) The result of consultation; determination; decision.
** a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 431:[T]he council broke; / And all their grave conſults diſſolv'd in ſmoke.
* (obsolete) A council; a meeting for consultation.
** 1730, Jonathan Swift, chapter 5, in Death and Daphne:a consult of coquettes
* (obsolete) Agreement; concert.

##### Usage notes

* (visit to consult somebody): The noun consult is avoided in British English, where consultation is preferred. In American English, they are merely synonyms.

### Etymology 2

From Middle French consulter, from Latin cōnsultō (“to deliberate, consult”), frequentative of cōnsulō (“to consult, deliberate, consider, reflect upon, ask advice”), from com- (“together”) + -sulō, from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁- (“to take, grab”).

#### Pronunciation

* enPR: kənsŭlt', IPA: /kənˈsʌlt/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌlt

#### Verb

consult (third-person singular simple present consults, present participle consulting, simple past and past participle consulted)
* (intransitive) To seek the opinion or advice of another; to take counsel; to deliberate together; to confer; to advise.
** c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:Let us consult upon to-morrow's business.
** 1661 (written), published in 1681, Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England
    All the laws of England have been made by the kings of England, consulting with the nobility and commons.
** 1889 January 11 [1888 December 21], Kung Taotai, “North Honan Road.”, in M. F. A. Fraser, transl., North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette‎, volume XLII, number 1119, Shanghai, →OCLC, page 37, column 1:SIR,—I have the honour to refer to your letter requesting me to desire Mr. Y. Ching-chong to come and consult with the Municipal Council, as Mr. Wood, the Chairman of that Body had informed you at a personal interview that they fully concurred in the desirability of co-operation with Mr. Ching-chong in improvements in the Honan road draining and lighting.
* (intransitive) To advise or offer expertise.
** 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet. A Detective Story, 3rd edition, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and Co., […], published 1892, →OCLC, part I (Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D., […]), page 13:Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I’m a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is.
* (intransitive) To work as a consultant or contractor rather than as a full-time employee of a firm.
* (transitive) To ask advice of; to seek the opinion of (a person)
** 1899, John Cotton Dana, chapter 1, in A Library Primer:If you have no library commission, consult a lawyer and get from him a careful statement of what can be done under present statutory regulations.
* (transitive) To refer to (something) for information.
    Coordinate term: look up
** 1904, Guy Wetmore Carryl, chapter 3, in Far from the Maddening Girls:Which reminds me that I have never remembered from that hour to consult the dictionary upon a selvage.
** 1837, William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences:Men forgot, or feared, to consult nature, to seek for new truths, to do what the great discoverers of other times had done; they were content to consult libraries.
* (transitive) To have reference to, in judging or acting; to have regard to; to consider; as, to consult one's wishes.
** 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:We are […] to consult the necessities of life, rather than matters of ornament and delight.
* (transitive, obsolete) To deliberate upon; to take for.
** 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:Many things were there consulted for the future, yet nothing was positively resolved.
* (transitive, obsolete) To bring about by counsel or contrivance; to devise; to contrive.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Habakkuk 2:10:Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people.

##### Derived terms

* consultability
* consultable
* consultancy
* consultative
* consultee
* consulter
* consulting room
* consultive
* consultor
* consultress
* e-consulting
* nonconsulted
* nonconsulting
* reconsult
* teleconsult
* unconsulted
* unconsulting

##### Related terms

* consultant
* consultation

##### Translations
### References

* ↑ “consult, n.$^1$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
* ↑ John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “consult, n.$^1$”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

### Further reading

* “consult”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “consult”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Cultons

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin consultum.

### Noun

consult n (plural consulturi)
* consultation